Energy and mining firms save FTSE from drop as Japanese bond decision weighs

Shares in London closed slightly in the green after trading in negative territory for much of the day, as news from Japan weighed on global markets.

Helped by its natural resource companies, the FTSE 100 had added 9.31 points to end the day on 7,370.62.

The 0.1% rise came amid rises for Glencore, Antofagasta and Centrica among others, while some of the exchange’s biggest banks also marked a strong day.

“In the UK the FTSE 100 was inflated by oil and mining energy giants with investors betting that new Covid cases won’t derail China’s big reopening push,” said AJ Bell financial analyst Danni Hewson.

“But as the winter of discontent looks likely to stretch well into next year as further rail strike dates are announced, the more domestically focused FTSE 250 couldn’t get out of reverse gear.”

Globally, markets were dealing with the news that Japan would make changes to the yield on its Government bonds. The decision was seen as hawkish for a normally dovish central bank.

“Generally, US markets were pretty subdued going into Tuesday as Wall Street absorbed a surprise move by the Bank of Japan which really caught investors on the hop,” Ms Hewson said.

Shortly after close in Europe, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and the Dow Jones was trading flat, having been down earlier in the day.

In Europe both Germany’s Dax and France’s Cac 40 index lost 0.4% each.

The price of a pound rose ever so slightly, trading at a little over 1.21 against the dollar. Against the euro it fell by around 0.2 cents to 1.14.

In company news, Ryanair has managed to reach a deal with its pilots in Ireland after months of discussion.

The airline said that its four-year pay deal will restore the pay cuts that pilots took during the Covid pandemic immediately. It follows a similar deal in July which promised similar terms for all pilots outside Ireland and Belgium.

Meanwhile, lender TSB was hit by a nearly £49 million fine by the Financial Conduct Authority after a 2018 upgrade of its IT systems left more than five million people unable to access their online bank.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Antofagasta, up 47.5p to 1,518.5p, Centrica, up 2.4p to 94.38p, Glencore, up 11.2p to 548p, Endeavour Mining, up 31p to 1,732p, and HSBC, up 7.05p to 502.8p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Sage, down 21.6p to 749.6p, Hargreaves Lansdown, down 19p to 831.8p, Airtel Africa, down 3p to 110.5p, JD Sports, down 2p to 113.25p, and Schroders, down 9p to 430.2p.